Resident Evil HD Remake Screenshot Comparison

Over on the Capcom Unity blog an update was posted comparing the new generation remake of Resident Evil to the older generation remake of Resident Evil. It seems kind of confusing, but yes, Capcom is remaking a remake and re-releasing it for the eighth generation home consoles.

Originally, Resident Evil Remake came out for the GameCube back in 2002. I skipped on it because it was basically just a better looking version of the original. However, Capcom decided to remake that version for Nintendo's Wii in 2008 (this was back when the Wii was kicking butt and taking names and everyone wanted to make something for it). It was basically just a slightly improved version of the GameCube rendition with a stronger focus on utilizing the Wii-mote.

Well, fast forward to 2014 and Capcom announces that they are remaking the remake that was based on a remake. As stupid as that sounds, it's a very sad truth.

Resident Evil Remake will be the third iteration re-release of a remade game, based on the original Resident Evil that came out back in 1996 for the PSX and PC.

Capcom provided screenshots comparing the 2008 version from the Wii, with what gamers will be able to experience on the PS3, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC next year.

In the examples above you can see how the biggest changes come in the form of resolution (obviously), a conversion of the game into a newer lighting engine, and higher resolution textures.

It's kind of weird but it actually looks like the geometry in the map has actually stayed the same, and that the vertex lighting and texture mapping help mask it.

The images below mostly focus on the character upgrades and the lighting that properly reflects on those characters.

Unsurprisingly, it looks as if Capcom lifted the models from the newer Resident Evil titles, or rather, the likelihood is that they lifted the old map from the 2008 Resident Evil and dumped it into the Resident Evil 6 rendering pipeline... or at least, that's what I would do. Given the way the contrast and hues are accentuated by a different lighting engine, I would hazard a guess that that's what they did.

The last set of comparisons mostly just highlight the upgraded texture maps, and further highlights the game's move into native 1080p for the newer gen consoles.

You can check out the rest of the screenshots in the section below or see a sliding scale extension over on the Capcom Unity blog to spot the differences up close and in real-time.

Resident Evil Remake is due for release in 2015 for home consoles and PC.